Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1887-03-18
AN APPALLING RUN.
a Heavily Loaded Passenger Train
on the Boston 4 Providence Ry.
Goes Through Bridge.
Over One Hundred People Killed and
Injured-A Graphic Descrip-.
" tiOn of the Wreck.
The Cause Of the Disaster.

IlOu Vi Gue WfeCK.
The Cause of the Disaster
BOsToN, March IA heavily loaded
passenger train on the Boston & Provi-
dence railroad went through a bridge at
about o'clock this morn ing, between Ros-
lindale and Forest Hill Some thirty three
persons were killed and forty injured. The
engine and three cars went over the
bridge safely but five others went through
the bridge to the road beneath, distance
of thirty feet. The last car, which was
smoker, turned over and struck on top of
the others, all being crushed almost out of
shape. The wreck as it lies makes an ap-
palllng ruin. There lies the great trough
filled with torn, twisted, crushed and splin-
tered railroad property. An adequate de-
scription of the shapeless mass is impos-
sible. ..~... s... -- 49,.
The bridge entirely gave way. before it
reached the inward side, but the momen-
tum of the train and the strength of the
couplings carried it nearly over the chasm
1t dropped just before it reached the abut-
ment and the body of the car dashed
against the solid stone wall. The force of
the shock shot the roof forward so that it
cleared the chasm anc slid along tue rails
itself full ten feet. The body of the car
was literally ground to pieces, and bits of
wood, iron and human bodies were strewn
tion Of the wreck. Those who examined
the wreck could find no trace In the RUNS
of this car which could be identified. The
only proof that it had existed was the fact
that there were plainly visible nine car
roofs at different points, and it followed
that nine cars had been wrecked, thoug
it was possible to trace but eight. The car.
which lie in the chasm form a pit &
wreckage 400 feet long by 100 feet wild,
The road beneath crosses at such a shal
angle that all the cars were diverted {
striking the opposite abutment into gel
eral position parallel with the street anu
abutment Most of the casualties are
sixth cars on the train, and the first, second
and third OF those which went iuto the
ehasm. Back of them is upturned the
wreck of the smoking car, only the corner
of which remNinS. Tie car whirled upside
down as it hall fell from the EN- mbankment
capped uninjured, and Policeman Taylor and
others were killed. The bridge where the
accident occurred was built in July, 1873.
It was 140 feet in length and 20 feet in
height and spanned the river, resting on
the heavy stone walls. The grade Of the
road is very heavy and there is sharp
curve where the bridge crosses the high
the bridge and the abutments upon which
the structure stands are set at sharp angles
The bridge was designed for a double
track, but only single track crosses it
now and experts cannot understand how
both. .trusses were carried down, when the
Manley, OF the city engineers office, made
a careful inspection of the bridge soon
after it had fallen. He said sthere was no
apparent reason for its giving way or for
the breaking of the iron work. 1t seemed
as if some force had drawn it forward and
thrown it from its bearings. A Mr.: Blais-
dell, who was crossing from the first to the
second car just as the train struck the
bridge, says he observed
A BROKEN JOURNAL HANGING DOWN.
This would account for carrying the
whole bridge off the abutments. A bad
flaw has been found near the end of a
twelve-inch truck which rests few feet
above the debris. 1t shows diagonal
fracture Of the iron twelve inches long, of
which eight inches are black with rust,
while the rest of the fracture is fresh. The
only remaining possible cause is broken
rail. 1t is doubtful if an examination on
this point would result satisfactorily, for
there are many of them twisted and
afterward was terrible. In one place the
bottles taken out were placed in a row.
All We're badly mangled.
THE WOUNDED CARED FOR.
! All day large corps of surgeons be-"
been at work attending to the injured, VII
are more numerous than was at first II
ported, it now being estimated that nearI!
this it is said number will probably die
A curious feature Of the disaster is fOune
in the fact that the entire bridge went
down with the wreck. The wreck of the
bridge lay under the debris of the train, al
most completely shut out from view. Ad-
ditiOnal evidences of the terrible nature of
the disaster were found at a late hour, as
the work of removing the wreck pro-
gresSed. In some places were fragments
Of flesh, pieces of clothing which had
belonged to some victim whose remains
had previously been removed. There was
blood over everything. Most of the pieces
women, and the fatality among them was
prGportionateiy greater, in one place the
bodies of seven women being taken out, all
horribly mangled. A pitiable sight was
that OF TWO girls whose arms We're claSped
around each other in the embrace of
death. In many instances axes and crow
bars were necessary in order to free per-
sons pinioned in the wreck. An old wo-
man was taken from "a car uninjured, but
with her clothing torn to shreds She said
the women IN her car were panic stricken,
and rushed into each others arms at the
moment of the crash,
4 BosToN, March l5.-Marvin Lynch, the
fore man Of the Roxbury Paving depart
ment was at work yesterday morning with
gang of five men cutting willows. The
party were stationed $50 feet from the